Foundation Day 建国記念の日

         Back in February Japan celebrated a national holiday called Foundation Day or Japan Day - to commemorate the founding of Japan. You can read more about it in this article: http://study.gaijinpot.com/lesson/holidays/national-foundation-day/

According to my Japanese friends, the most important part of this holiday is that it is a non-working day. 

          To celebrate Foundation Day some friends and I spent the day at Mt. Tskuba which is only a short trip away by train or by car.  After a shopping spree in the train station (they have a great Daiso = dollar store) we headed up the mountain. 

          At the base of the mountain is a large tourist trap with omiyage (traveling gifts) shops and food and a shrine. Apparently, another way to celebrate Foundation day is by going to the shrine where priests stand on a balcony and throw things into the crowd (which range from little rock-like mochi because of the cold temperature to candy or snacks). The best things they throw, though, are little slips of paper. Each paper has an item written on it and you can exchange the paper for that item at the counter next to the shrine. Based on the papers I saw, items ranged from sake to aluminum foil to rice and more. Many people came to the shrine with giant bags, intending to catch as much as they possible could and pushing people to get it. Whoever thinks that the Japanese can't be assertive has never seen an event like this.
          The children in the audience stood directly below the balcony and were off limits from the snatch-and-grab mayhem amidst the adults.  

          The stone lions below are found at the entrance to every shrine, one on either side of the pathway. One has an open mouth and the other has a closed mouth, and they represent the first and last alphabetic  symbols (like alpha and omega/the beginning and the end) and they signify completeness. I want to make another post soon to talk about Japan and their shrines, but there is always a heaviness for me when I see how much they acknowledge the supernatural in creation but ignore the Creator. 

   

In case you did not notice, the above right picture has a man crouching on a roof. I (and my friends) have no clue why  he is there, but it made me think of Kung Fu Panda.

After watching this spectacle we continued our drive up the mountain at sunset, which was stunning.

 

Below is a view of Mt. Fuji from the top of Mt. Tskuba.

          Near the top we got onto a ski-lift which carried us to one of the twin peaks of mount Tskuba. Apparently one of the peaks is a "boy" and one is a "girl". I don't know which one we went to.... it was very confusing. By the time we made it to the top it was completely dark and we saw the city lights for miles and miles from above, we could even see the glowing haze of Tokyo. Pictures did not do the scene justice, but there were stars above us and stars below us.
            At the top of there was an observation area, a Christmas lights display (in February), and free chocolate cake because it was valentines day!!!

I love holidays :D